Week 3, Day 1
Start with 2 minutes of silence
Take at least one to two minutes of silence to quiet yourself before the Lord and prepare yourself to read his Word.
Scripture : Exodus 20:1-17
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Devotional : Let God Shine on You
By Jan Busboom
I thank God that these truths were ingrained in me from my youth by the Lutheran Church I grew up in. When I came to Christ at the age of 22, my knowledge of and appreciation for the obvious truth of these commandments made it easy for me to see that I was a sinner in desperate need for a Savior. Since that time, I have often fallen into periods of neglecting to meditate on these truths and my sin becomes minimized acting as a drug that deadens my senses and keeps me from grasping hold of the cure for my malady. This week as I meditated on these commandments I was led to cry “Woe is me, I am ruined”. BUT I know that my Redeemer lives and that the Lord has laid on Him the horrible and ugly iniquity of us all.
I encourage us all to follow the example of the Puritan preacher Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680) who said, “Whenever I become cold in my ministry, I take a stroll up and down among the sins of my past life and I always come down with a broken and contrite heart.”
We need to look deeply into these commandments. For example, for the first commandment we probably do not worship a carved idol but as Martin Luther said, “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is your God” and “Man is by nature unable to want God to be God, Indeed, he himself wants to be God”
For the second commandment related to making a graven image, remember that image can be in our minds and can even refer to making Yahweh in the image we want Him to be instead of how He is. With regard to “Do not murder” Jesus in the sermon on the mount makes it clear that it is what is in our heart that counts. In fact, Jesus says if we hold someone in contempt by saying “you fool” we have violated this commandment and indeed holding someone in contempt can be the first step in dehumanizing someone which in turn can actually lead to murder in our heart if not physically.
Thank God, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” I John 1:9.
Question to consider:
Do you sometimes or often fail to let God shine the light of his word on parts of your life? What is the Lord calling you to do about it?
Prayer:
Lord we thank you for these laws and we know that in keeping them there is great reward, but when fail to keep your law remind us to bring our sins before You and confess our sins to you and allow you to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
Close with at least two minutes of silence
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